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April 6, 2014

Around
the same time we had Landon, some good friends of ours also had a baby… at
home. I remember thinking how scary that would be, not to mention painful, and
how I didn’t think I could ever do something like that.

Never
say never, right?

In a nutshell, these are our
reasons for going the home birth route:

Past Experience: Our hospital experience
with Landon was not ideal. My OB was out of town, so I had some on call doctor
who gave me an awful episiotomy after only one push and without first obtaining my consent. (Months of painful
recovery!) In addition, I went into labor on a Sunday which meant the cafeteria was
closed, so Scott was starving all day. Scott was also not thrilled about sleeping on the uncomfortable couch in our little room during the two days following the birth. (And honestly, it’s not
like the hospital beds are much better!)

Insurance: Or lack thereof,
because I had none. A midwife is much cheaper out of pocket that an OB, not to
mention I would get to skip all the unpleasant blood work and tests along the
way.

Knowledge: We watched the Business
of Being Born, which was a great eye-opening documentary; highly recommend it.
We also started learning about home birth and came to realize how safe it is,
and how much better it is for mom and baby. To anyone giving birth, even if you
are set on an epidural in the hospital, I would still recommend learning about
the benefits of a natural birth.

Our Home Birth
Experience:

Preparation: I’m sure many of you
have the same reaction when you hear "home birth" as I once did. But, I
assure you; it’s quite a different story when you spend nine months preparing
for it. We went with the same midwife, Sherri Price, that our friends did, and
absolutely love her. Her experience, care, and knowledge are unmatched. (She is pictured below in one of the photos with Tom and me.) Each month she holds forums at her home for all the moms
to be, giving information on a variety of topics: comfort measures during
pregnancy and birth, massage, birthing positions, exercise, nutrition, stages
of labor, etc… You also get to hear mothers share their birth stories. In
addition we took a HypnoBabies class, which is the main “pain management”
technique used in many home births.

Prenatals: Many people have asked
me what prenatals are like with a home birth so I thought I’d include this
little blurb too. The prenatal appointments were held at Sherri's home. (Landon
loved to go with because of all the fun toys and cars there.) She would measure
the baby, listen to the heart, do a urine analysis, and check my weight. No
internal exam, as they are not necessary and just provide an opportunity for
bacteria to enter that sterile area. Then we would talk about how things are
going, how I was doing with exercise and nutrition, and go over any questions I
might have.

The Birth: During this pregnancy I
had a very strong feeling that he would come early, and fast. I was only in labor with Landon
for 12 hours, so we were thinking it might be 6 or so the second time around.
On March 15, I woke up at 5:30am, 8 days before my due date. (Thank you for
sleeping in Landon!) I went to the bathroom, definitely was leaking fluid, had
bloody show, and knew the contractions were real this time.

Of
course it figures, I had been keeping the house spotless every day with the
exception of the night before I went into labor. So, in my head I started
listing off what had to be done ASAP:

Clean!!!

Wash bedding (Scott had
been sleeping in the extra bed downstairs because he had a severe bronchitis
infection and didn’t want to get me sick. However, we were planning on using
that bed during labor so we wanted to get all those sheets clean.)

Shower! (Maybe I’ll even
curl my hair for the sake of pictures. Haha, yes I did think this would be possible.)

After
getting up, I quickly realized that the contractions were a lot stronger and
closer together than I was anticipating they would be at the start of labor. I
woke Scott up, called Sherri, showered, (didn’t even get around to combing or drying
my hair) and then started listening to one of my HypnoBabies tracks while I
cleaned up. Scott called our good friends to come take Landon as well.

Sherri
arrived at 7:00am. She checked where I was at: only 5cm, but 100% effaced and
baby was at +2 station, meaning his head was already halfway down the birth
canal. (0 means he hasn’t entered the canal, +5 is crowning.) Sherri ran
downstairs to get the birthing tub set up and call the other midwife and
apprentice. She only got the tub half full before we ran out of hot
water. (Had we known things were going to go this fast, we wouldn’t have all
showered and done laundry first!) I was still able to get in the tub for a few
contractions but then started to feel pushy (in my head I was thinking,
already?!?!) and I ended up moving to the bed because the water was getting too
cold. After pushing for only 30 minutes, he was out! Not gonna lie, it was the
most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. (There are HypnoBabies tracks to
listen to when in labor, and pushing but everything went so fast, there just
wasn’t time to think about getting them.)

All
in all, it was the most amazing and empowering experience I’ve ever had and I
wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Thomas
Vincent Winn was born at 9:10am, after just 3.5 hours of labor. He was 21
inches long, and 9 lbs, 5 oz. (A full inch and pound bigger than Landon, and
born a week earlier.) No tearing whatsoever!!

While
Scott and I rested with Tom, the midwives cleaned everything up and set up all
the things we needed in our room upstairs. We moved up there and stayed in bed
all day, sleeping and enjoying our new little bundle in the comfort of our own
home.

Recovery: I absolutely loved my
home birth experience and would do it again in a heartbeat. The recovery has
been night and day different from my hospital birth experience. After five days
I felt amazing. I knew my body still needed to rest, but it was hard to stay in
bed and take it easy because I felt like I was already back to my old self
again!

Thomas: After a couple of days, it
was very evident that something was wrong with Thomas and causing him to nurse
incorrectly, leaving blood blisters on both my nipples. (Which were so painful,
that I couldn’t decide if pushing baby out or nursing him hurt more.) Sherri
recommended a pediatric dentist who specializes in lip and tongue ties. Turns
out Tom had both, making it so he couldn’t lift his tongue and upper lip enough
to nurse properly. The dentist preformed a ten-minute procedure in which the
ties are literally removed with a laser. It took some time for Tom to figure
out how to nurse better but by that point, my milk supply was already down because
he wasn’t properly getting milk out. As the lactation consultant put it, it was
too hard for him to get milk so he would go to sleep and be content to starve.
(Although he was/is definitely not starving, just not getting enough either.) Not to mention
he has severe reflux (just like Landon did) and spits up most of everything he
gets down. Consequently, I’ve been pumping after every feeding and power
pumping for an hour at night in addition to taking Fenugreek to try to increase my
supply. He has to eat at least every two hours, but usually he's ready after an hour and a half, so this essentially leaves an hour of time between each feeding session. He is still fairly fussy,
but hopefully with more milk and acid reflux meds, that will continue to improve. In addition, he has a Staph infection and his big toe nails are both ingrown. Good grief, little one.

Landon: Landon has been
adjusting fairly well. He absolutely loves having a little brother and always
wants to give him hugs, kisses, and tickles. Of course Landon doesn’t get the
attention he is used to, and has started doing things he has never done before,
like painting the carpet and coloring on chairs. Not to mention he has become extremely
defiant. And, my all time favorite is when Tom’s crying and Landon starts crying
and screaming too. “Two babies, Mom!” Oh boy. Thankfully we’ve had family come
and go consistently since Tom’s birth so Landon has had fun hanging out with
everyone.

5
comments:

Your at home birth experience sounded amazing-- you've convinced me! Though I think I'll have to have another c-section :/ And your poor babies--they have so many difficulties in the beginning! Good thing you're such a good mom and can take care of them. Such a cute family of four--congrats again Winns!

Loved hearing about it. I sure enjoyed having 4 of mine at home compared to the 2 in the hospital. Such a sweet, spiritual time.Best wishes with the health challenges. You can do this.You might try the DigestZen for the acid reflux. Abby used it on her baby for upset tummy. You can mix it with coconut oil and then on the sternum up to the throat.May you have sweet times.

Congrats you guys!! He is so adorable. If you found anything to help with your milk supply let me know!! Emma is the same, she just falls asleep when nursing and I have been pumping and giving her a bottle because it's so much easier for her. So if you find the magic solution I would love to hear it! Good luck with everything!